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An astrophysicist says the universe doesn't pull things down — it accelerates upward toward them. And that's one of the tamer claims in this conversation. Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi joins Brian to dismantle assumptions most physicists won't touch in public. Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi is a NASA researcher, Nova host, and author of Why Do We Exist, a unified framework spanning quantum fields to cosmology — and making a case for why imagination may be the universe's endgame. We cover: -why falling is the wrong way to think about gravity -what Hakeem discovered about heat flow while washing dishes that took decades to confirm -why humans sit at the exact logarithmic center of the universe, the calculation that puts 100,000 multicellular-life candidates in the Milky Way -why we'll likely never find any of them, and the one thing most people confuse for knowledge that Hakeem says is the most dangerous deception in society today. The universe makes life inevitable. It does not make multicellular life inevitable. Key Takeaways: 0:00 The Question That Breaks Physics 1:30 Meet Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi 3:10 The Earth Isn't Pulling You Down 6:00 Heat That Flows the Wrong Way 9:05 Why Electrons Run the Universe 11:15 The Most Dangerous Deception 14:20 We're at the Center of Everything 20:05 100,000 Worlds — And We'll Never Reach Them 22:30 Nine Realms: A Map of All Reality 25:25 When Two Realms Grind Each Other Apart 28:50 The Line Between Speculation and Science 33:20 The Hubble Tension War 40:40 How Long Until the Universe Destroys All Matter 44:05 Victor Glover and Why Representation Matters 48:10 What Happens to a Species That Stops Imagining 📬 Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt 🌠 Have a .edu email and live in the USA 🇺🇸? You automatically win a meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 🎯 Support Into the Impossible on Patreon — get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating ⭐ Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 My books: Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un 🌐 More: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #intotheimpossible #briankeating #science #physics #astronomy #cosmology #podcast #universe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sabine Hossenfelder says quantum computers are only useful for breaking codes. She's wrong — and my undergraduates are building the proof. What's happening in my lab right now has nothing to do with cryptography, and everything to do with the future of AI. I'm a cosmologist at UC San Diego teaching undergraduates to build, program, and eventually launch quantum computers — possibly to the Moon via Artemis! We cover: why Sabine's code-breaking verdict misses the real story, how free tools like Quantum Rings are closing the education gap Sabine thinks is a hardware problem, why Q-Day just got moved up to 2029, what my students are actually doing with quantum computers in my lab, and why the next generation of quantum physicists won't need a billion-dollar facility to train. The bottleneck isn't the hardware. It's what we're teaching — and who we're teaching it to. Use my special link to get access to the course and apply for the summer 2026 internship: https://www.quantumrings.com/iti Watch Sabine’s video https://youtu.be/qV7hQEtr3ic?si=EPcg5fAw_18QaKhM Timestamps: 00:00 Quantum Is More Than Codebreakingt 00:51 The Week Q-Day Jumped Years Aheadt 02:38 Why Quantum Felt Useless (Until Now)t 04:42 What Happens If Encryption Fails Quietlyt 05:33 The Tool That Changes Everythingt 07:37 From Beginner to Running Algorithmst 09:26 The Infrastructure Behind the Shiftt 10:58 The Real Bottleneck: Not Physicst 11:59 The Opportunity Everyone’s Missingt ——— 📬 Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt 🌠 Have a .edu email and live in the USA 🇺🇸? You automatically win a meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Support Into the Impossible on Patreon — get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating ⭐ Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 My books: Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): http://amzn.to/2sa5UpAt Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFut Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9Ut Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Unt 🌐 More: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #intotheimpossible #briankeating #science #physics #astronomy #cosmology #podcast #universe #sabinehossenfelder #bobwold #quantumcomputer #quantumcomputing #quantumencryption #quantumsupremacy #quantumsimulation #quantumalgorithms #aiandquantum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A neuroscientist built an AI that refuses to give answers — and it outperformed every model on the market, including the ones trained on billions of users’ data. The implication: every AI that hands you the answer may be quietly making you less capable of thinking without it. Dr. Vivienne Ming is a neuroscientist, AI researcher, and author of Robot Proof, who has spent nearly 30 years building machine learning systems and studying what makes humans irreplaceable alongside them. We cover: -why the 5–10% of people who argue with AI outperform both elite human forecasters and top AI models -what GPS is already doing to your memory and why GPT may be next -the "Sexy Face" game that was secretly training a neural network to reunite orphan refugees -why the information explosion paradox means more free answers lead to less human exploration — even among scientists. Giving you the answer is almost the worst thing these machines can do. Key Takeaways 0:00 – The AI Trained to Never Answer You 0:49 – Why Most People Just Hand Problems to AI 2:18 – How the Cyborgs Beat Everyone 4:55 – What Happens When AI Only Asks Questions 6:10 – The Failure Resume: What It Actually Means 9:14 – What Amazon & Facebook's Data Revealed About Innovation 11:23 – Why Even Scientists Are Exploring Less 15:23 – The Hidden Parenting Book Inside This AI Book 16:14 – If Kids Were Bonds, What Would They Be Worth? 20:17 – The Skills That Predict Everything at Age 65 25:22 – The "Sexy Face" Game That Reunited Refugee Families 31:24 – What Diversity Actually Means on Breakthrough Teams 35:56 – What Einstein's Dad Would Have Gotten Wrong 37:40 – This Is Not the Industrial Revolution 41:17 – GPS Already Shrank Your Brain. GPT Is Next. 51:49 – Why the Book Cover Is Black and Yellow 56:55 – The Benchmark Nobody Is Building 59:46 – Can an AI Ever Have a Happiest Thought? ——— 📬 Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt 🌠 Have a .edu email and live in the USA 🇺🇸? You automatically win a meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 🎯 Support Into the Impossible on Patreon — get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating ⭐ Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 My books: Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un 🌐 More: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #intotheimpossible #briankeating #science #physics #astronomy #cosmology #podcast #universe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emad Mostaque built Stable Diffusion. Now he says the most powerful AI models will never be released — and we have roughly 800 days before everything changes. What the trillion-dollar labs won't tell you about the models they're keeping locked away 👇 Emad Mostaque is the founder of Stability AI and creator of Stable Diffusion. In this conversation, he explains why the gap between public AI and private AI is about to become the most important story in technology — and why most people won't realize it until it's too late. We cover: why open source can't compete with trillion-dollar labs, what happens when humans have negative cognitive value on AI teams, how ancient faith traditions are adapting to superintelligence, and the 800-day timeline Emad puts on the biggest transition in human history. Timestamps: 00:00 The models too dangerous to release 10:06 Why physics needs axioms — and AI doesn't 11:43 The MIND framework most AI researchers won't use 17:36 The universe might be a computation 30:34 Should we let AI fly planes? 39:43 AI just invented a game no human could design 44:43 Why AI will cost almost nothing in 18 months 51:46 Can religion survive superintelligence? 57:36 The AI companion problem nobody talks about 01:03:20 Why personalized AI is more dangerous than AGI 01:11:18 The forgotten link between God and science 01:26:32 800 days: what happens next 📬 Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt 🌠 Have a .edu email and live in the USA 🇺🇸? You automatically win a meteorite! meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #agi #stablediffusion #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list  to win a meteorite 💥 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, philosopher, novelist, and author of The Mattering Instinct. Her verdict on why human beings are driven to matter — and what threatens that drive — might change how you think about your own life. Check out her recent appearance on Mindscape here. In this conversation, we discuss why every human being is haunted by the need to matter, the four types of people and how each one tries to satisfy that longing, why Ludwig Boltzmann's tragic death is a thermodynamic story, how depression maps onto entropy, whether AI can ever have a mattering instinct, and why heroic strivers are the most threatened by artificial intelligence. We also get into what Freud got wrong about what women want, the physics of matter versus the philosophy of mattering, and why the second law of thermodynamics may be the most personal law in all of science. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and MacArthur Genius Award recipient. She is the author of multiple books including Plato at the Googleplex and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. Her newest book, The Mattering Instinct, is one of Apple's most anticipated books of the year. 00:00 Why every human being needs to matter — and what happens when they can't  03:30 The second law of thermodynamics and what it has to do with your life  13:10 The 4 types of people: Transcenders, Socializers, Heroic Strivers, and Competitors  16:25 Why fame-seeking millennials will give up everything — including relationships  22:05 Zero-sum mattering: the competitor who was happy for 15 minutes after winning a Nobel Prize  23:20 Ludwig Boltzmann solved one of physics' greatest paradoxes — then despaired  28:45 All tragedies are thermodynamic — and so is depression  35:40 Life as resistance to entropy: what flourishing actually means  48:35 Can AI have a mattering instinct? What that would mean for human rights and everything we think we are ➡️ Follow Rebecca Newberger Goldstein  🌐 Website: https://rebeccagoldstein.com/  📚 The Mattering Instinct: https://www.amazon.com/Mattering-Instinct-Deepest-Longing-Divides/dp/1324096853  🐦 Twitter/X: https://x.com/platobooktour  ✍️ Substack: https://rebeccanewbergergoldstein.substack.com/  Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join  📚 Get my books:  Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu  Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U  My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA  The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un  Follow me to ask questions of my guests:  🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1  📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list  ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog  🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast  #philosophy #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #mattering #entropy #meaningoflife #RebeccaNewbergerGoldstein #thermodynamics #AIandhumanity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Artemis II mission to the dark side of the moon will be the furthest human beings have ever travelled from Earth. It's the precursor to a return to the lunar surface and perhaps even reaching Mars. But still, there are those who say humans have never set foot on the Moon, such as Bart Sibrel. Once punched in the face by Buzz Aldrin, he says he’s on a CIA hitlist because he blew the whistle on the original moon landings being fake. He speaks to Piers Morgan opposite Dr. Brian Keating, distinguished professor of Physics at UC San Diego and host of the ‘Into The Impossible’ podcast. Then Piers is joined by former astronaut Charlie Duke, who was the youngest person to walk on the Moon, and Star Trek’s very own Captain Kirk, William Shatner. Bart Sibrel's website: https://www.sibrel.com/ Dr Brian Keating's website: https://briankeating.com/ Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:25 Dr. Brian Keating on moon landing conspiracies 03:30 Bart Sibrel discusses his conspiracy investigations 11:20 Bart Sibrel on lights, shadows and radiation belts 18:20 Motivation behind faking the moon landing 22:00 Will the Artemis mission be genuine or fake? 26:43 Charlie Duke and William Shatner join 28:17 Charlie Duke on walking on the moon 30:22 William Shatner on the opportunity to walk on the moon 33:00 William Shatner on being in Space 41:26 Charlie’s advice to Artemis II astronauts 42:43 Charlie and William on moon landing conspiracies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating takes us on an exclusive tour of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh with cosmologist Marcos Pellejero, exploring the mysteries of dark energy and the accelerating universe. From the historic halls where human "computers" shaped the foundations of modern cosmology, to the cutting-edge DESI experiment mapping galaxies across the cosmos, the conversation explores whether dark energy is truly constant—or if our cosmological model is beginning to show cracks. - Key Takeaways: 00:00 "Dark Energy and Cosmic Clues" 04:42 "Light Pollution Ruins Observatories" 07:03 Royal Astronomer's Electric Chair Solution 11:06 "DESI Challenges Vacuum Energy Constant" 15:48 "Advancing Simulations and Synergies" 19:14 "Science and Art: Problem Solving" 20:29 "Exploring Dark Energy's Secrets" - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #darkenergy #Galaxysurveys #RoyalObservatoryEdinburgh #hubbletension #universeexploration #cosmicmysteries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With NASA planning to send Artemis astronauts farther into space than ever, should they be worried about the deadly effects of the Van Allen belts? Here, I describe to James Altucher what the claims are and what the real concerns should be. My response to Moon landing denial claims by Kim Kardashian, Candace Owens, and Bart Sibrel I answer all the big questions: ⇨ Why did the flag move with no wind? ⇨ Is there really no gravity on the moon? ⇨ Why haven't we gone back? ⇨ How did the astronauts survive the Van Allen radiation belts? Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Timestamps 00:00 Moon Landing Hoax Claims 05:12 Trust, Truth, and Controversy 07:26 Apollo Astronauts' Press Conference Doubts 10:50 Joe Rogan Questions Moon Landing 15:36 Van Allen Belts and Radiation 18:43 Debunking Van Allen Belt Claims 20:01 Worst Moon Landing Hoax Argument Explained 22:57 Van Allen Belts and Spaceflight 28:42 Moon Landing Conspiracy Critique 29:28 Refuting Lies is Harder References: Joe on American Alchemy with Jesse Michels https://youtu.be/C_Na1tI5qpw?si=-K2I10rLwf_OYriL Bart SIbrel on Danny Jones https://youtu.be/58YGzlW3Koc?si=pWcZ2QecGf33owr2 Bart SIbrel and Charlie Duke on Danny Jones https://youtu.be/kMn6sI4X66s?si=X3v8Eng3lT3BYwDT Bart's confrontations with NASA astronauts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronauts_Gone_Wild Fauci-Collins "devastating published take down" of "fringe epidemiologist" Jay Bhattacharya https://aier.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FirstCollinsEmail.pdf - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast Video & Edited by Sheikh Media Website: sheikh.media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmadisapro/ This video contains commentary and criticism under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. §107). All third-party clips, articles, and documents are used for educational and critical purposes. Please contact for attribution. #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list  to win a meteorite 💥 Matt Kaplan is a science journalist at The Economist and a trained paleontologist. His new book I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right is a candid investigation into how science actually works — and why the engine of discovery is badly in need of a tuneup. In this conversation, we discuss why the pandemic exposed science's dirty secrets to the public, how Ignaz Semmelweis discovered handwashing saved lives and was thrown in an asylum for it, why Katalin Karikó survived where others didn't, the replication crisis and how funding models are making it worse, whether older scientists should control research dollars, why Galileo was never actually tortured, and what journalists and scientists must do differently before public trust collapses entirely. Matt Kaplan also recently discussed science communication and dysfunction on other outlets — in this conversation, we go deeper on the replication crisis, the Semmelweis story, and why the funding model is quietly corrupting the scientific process. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes each week  🎧 Ad-free episodes on Patreon: patreon.com/drbriankeating  INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE — where Nobel Prize winners, physicists, and bold thinkers explore the biggest questions in science. Key Takeaways 00:00 Why the pandemic was science's most damaging moment of exposure 03:30 The scientific-industrial press complex — and who's really to blame  06:50 How science journalism fails the public 85% of the time  10:00 Ignaz Semmelweis: the man who proved handwashing saves lives and was destroyed for it  20:10 Why infection rates dropped from 21% to zero — and nobody listened  24:30 What Katalin Karikó had that Semmelweis didn't: shelter  28:00 The replication crisis — why nobody is funding the most important work in science  33:00 How funding models force scientists to run experiments they've already won  40:30 Should older scientists control research dollars? A Nobel laureate weighs in  43:45 Why Galileo was never tortured — and why the myth won't die  47:00 The rhinoceros tooth: a paleontologist's lesson in confirmation bias ➡️ Follow Matt Kaplan  🌐 Website: https://www.somuchsciencesolittletime.com/about  📚 I Told You So! Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right: https://www.amazon.com/Told-You-Scientists-Ridiculed-Imprisoned/dp/1250372275   ✍️ Email: [email protected]  Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join  📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu  Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U  Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA  Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un  Follow me to ask questions of my guests:  🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1   📝 Mailing list: http://briankeating.com/list  ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog  🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #physics #science #sciencejournalism #MattKaplan #briankeating #intotheimpossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list  to win a meteorite 💥 Michael Wong recently discussed theory of evolution on TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSrf7ErdHWA  — in this conversation, we go deeper on the law of increasing functional information and what it means for life, complexity, and the future of science. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes each week  🎧 Ad-free episodes on Patreon: patreon.com/drbriankeating  INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE — where Nobel Prize winners, physicists, and bold thinkers explore the biggest questions in science. Is there a second arrow of time? Astrobiologist and planetary scientist Dr. Michael Wong joins Brian Keating to explore the law of increasing functional information — a proposed new law of nature that may explain how complexity evolves across minerals, biology, AI, and the cosmos. Dr. Michael Wong of the Carnegie Institution for Science has been working with a cross-disciplinary group of scientists — the "Missing Law Group" — to propose something bold: a new law of nature. Their law of increasing functional information argues that evolving systems, whether biological or not, tend toward greater complexity and function over time. In this conversation, Brian and Michael unpack what functional information actually means, how it differs from Shannon entropy, and why it may describe something fundamental about the universe we live in. From the formation of minerals in stellar atmospheres to the evolution of life on Earth, Michael walks through how this framework applies across planetary science, astrobiology, and even cancer research. Brian pushes on the hard questions — the Fermi paradox, the boundary conditions of the law, its relationship to the second law of thermodynamics, and whether it truly qualifies as a "law" at all. Sean Carroll blurbed the book and later called it out on his podcast — Brian asks Michael about that tension directly. They also get into panspermia, the contingent role of cosmic collisions in shaping Earth's evolutionary history, the search for biosignatures on Mars and beyond, and what the rise of generative AI looks like through the lens of selection for function. This is a wide-ranging, technically honest conversation about one of the most ambitious proposals in contemporary science. Key Takeaways: 00:00:35 There May Be a Second Arrow of Time — and It Points Toward Complexity 00:01:35 The Law of Increasing Functional Information Explains How the Universe Evolves 00:07:15 Functional Information Measures How Well a System Performs a Specific Function 00:11:30 Three Universal Selection Pressures Drive All Evolving Systems 00:18:00 Mineral Evolution on Earth Is a Measurable Proof of the Law in Action 00:22:00 The Law Is a Tendency, Not a Guarantee — It Doesn't Resolve the Fermi Paradox 00:27:00 Life and Non-Life Contain the Same Building Blocks — the Difference Is in the Distributions 00:32:15 Cosmic Collisions Didn't Derail Evolution — They Opened New Possibility Spaces 00:50:00 Cancer Behaves Like an Evolving System — and That Could Change How We Treat It 01:05:15 AI Is a New Form of Evolving Life — and Without Stronger Selection Pressure, It's DangerousFeatured Guest ➡️  Follow Michael Wong  🌐 Website: https://miquai.myportfolio.com/  📚 The book: Time’s Second Arrow (co-authored with Robert Hazen) : https://www.amazon.com/Times-Second-Arrow-Evolution-Nature-ebook/dp/B0FJ2ZJL53 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://x.com/miquai — Brian's Links Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join  📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu  Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U  Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA  Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un  Follow me to ask questions of my guests:  🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Mailing list: http://briankeating.com/list   ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog  🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast  — #physics #astrobiology #complexity #evolutionoflife #briankeating #intotheimpossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating sits down with the ever-curious Avi Loeb for a mind-bending exploration into some of science's greatest mysteries and controversies. The conversation spans everything from the evolving understanding of comets and meteors—highlighting the false starts and surprising twists in scientific history—to the tantalizing possibilities of extraterrestrial life and the intrigue surrounding potential government disclosure. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Aliens.gov: Speculation and Mystery 06:02 Satellite Imaging Unveils Unusual Objects 15:37 Alien Claims or Smokescreen? 26:16 Interstellar Object Anomalies Explained 31:46 Life Clues on Icy Object? 39:08 Academic Harassment by Editors 47:05 Finding More Interstellar Objects 54:05 Life on Mars: Earth Origin? 59:15 Life Transfer: Natural or Directed? 01:08:32 Dwarf Stars and Habitability 01:16:06 AI: Alien Intelligence's Impact 01:23:37 Technosignatures and Extraterrestrial Communication 01:29:22 Are We Ready for Answers? 01:41:38 CMB Analysis: No AI Allowed 01:44:46 Open Science via Simons Observatory - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #AviLoeb #AlienTechnology #UFO #ExtraterrestrialLife #SETI #Astrophysics #SpaceDiscovery #UAP #Interstellar #ScienceExplained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode of The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast, Brian Keating sits down with Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, to explore the real science behind one of the most ambitious science fiction stories ever written. With the upcoming film adaptation of Project Hail Mary generating excitement among fans, we dig into the physics, astrophysics, and speculative biology that make the story so compelling. Could the mysterious energy source known as astrophage actually exist? What does real astrophysics say about interstellar travel, relativistic journeys, and humanity’s chances of reaching nearby star systems? Andy Weir explains how he builds scientifically grounded worlds while still telling gripping stories, and Brian breaks down which elements of the novel are plausible according to modern physics. The conversation also explores the process of writing hard science fiction, how scientific accuracy shapes storytelling, and why readers and scientists alike have embraced Project Hail Mary as one of the most scientifically informed sci-fi novels of the last decade. Along the way, Brian and Andy discuss the challenges of adapting such a technically rich story into a major Hollywood film and what audiences might expect when the movie arrives. If you enjoy deep conversations about physics, astronomy, science fiction, and the boundary between imagination and reality, this episode will give you a fascinating look at how real science inspires great storytelling. - Key Takeaways: 00:00 Andy Weir Discusses 'Project Hail Mary' 10:44 "Balancing Science and Creativity" 16:03 "Global Unity Against Common Threats" 18:56 Amateurs Driving Innovation 25:35 Fermi Paradox: Light Speed Limit 29:30 "Building a Shared Language" 35:32 "5,000 Words Weekly Writing System" 46:58 UCSD Physics Experience Reflection 51:23 "Colleges Should Be Trade Schools" 57:08 Billion-Year Human Legacy Capsule - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #andyweir #projecthailmary #themartian #sciencefiction #hardsciencefiction #scifibooks #spacescience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list  to win a meteorite 💥 David Sussillo spent years training neural networks at Google Brain and now leads research at Meta Reality Labs. His verdict on the path to artificial consciousness might surprise you. In this conversation, we discuss why scaling transformers alone won't produce conscious AI, how recurrent neural networks differ from the transformer architectures powering today's LLMs, the FORCE algorithm he developed to train RNNs, what his work on Meta's EMG wristband reveals about AI and biological signals, Rich Sutton's Bitter Lesson and whether we're locked into a GPU-transformer paradigm, and why studying the brain may be the only way out of AI's current limitations. David is also the author of Emergence, a braided memoir that tells the story of his path from foster care to the frontier of neuroscience and AI research. David Sussillo is a research scientist at Meta Reality Labs and an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He completed his PhD at Columbia University under Larry Abbott and previously worked at Google Brain. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Scale alone won't produce consciousness — here's why  00:25 The "bitter lesson": big data crushes every algorithmic invention  01:15 How hallucinations were discovered early at Google  05:00 The lock-in problem: why LLM + GPU may cap AI's ceiling  08:25 What Meta's neural wristband is actually trying to solve  11:20 Rich Sutton's bitter lesson explained  14:15 "More is Different" — why you can't reduce complexity upward  28:30 The book Emergence — two stories braided into one  36:00 Why mentorship matters more than intelligence for at-risk kids  47:00 Stability over intensity: what kids in foster care actually need  ➡️ Follow David Sussillo  🌐 Website / Research: Meta Reality Labs  📚 Emergence (memoir): https://www.amazon.com/Emergence-Memoir-Boyhood-Computation-Mysteries/dp/1538768577  🎓 Stanford / Columbia / Carnegie Mellon Alumni ✍️ Email: [email protected]  🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://x.com/SussilloDavid Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Aswath Damodaran joins Brian Keating to argue that markets, universities, and financial models are all suffering the same disease — mistaking mechanical processes for genuine thinking — and explains why Nobel economists aren't billionaires, why academia is the most deserving target for disruption, and why every major asset class is now overpriced with nowhere left to hide. 00:00 Intro 00:01:37 Why Nobel Economists Aren't Billionaires 00:06:08 Universities Have Completely Lost the Plot 00:07:43 95% of Academic Research Is Worthless 00:13:05 The University Is a Sticky Business — But Cracks Are Forming 00:40:00 ChatGPT Already Does What Bankers Charge Millions For 00:46:43 The Most Dangerous Number in Finance 00:52:35 There Is No Safe Place Left to Put Your Money 00:55:48 When Every Asset Is Overpriced, Buy What You Love 01:00:22 We Are Losing Our Ability to Think 01:01:30 Markets Are Smarter Than Experts — Every Single Time  ➡️ Follow Aswath Damodaran  🌐 Website: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/  📚 The Little Book of Valuation: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/  📝 Musings on Markets (Substack): https://aswathdamodaran.substack.com Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this video, we discuss the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and fundamental science and how AI is transforming the way physicists handle massive streams of data from modern observatories—while also explaining where its power ends and human creativity begins. Tune in for insights, surprising stories, and a behind-the-scenes look at how scientists are navigating the AI revolution. 🚀 - Key Takeaways: 00:00 - Cosmologist Exploring Universe and AI 05:30 - AI Success and Physics Limits 09:48 - How Did the Universe Begin? 14:00 - Limits of AI in Scientific Insight 16:04 - Cosmology's Data Revolution 19:29 - AI Insights: Science and Writing 23:04 - Limits of Predictive Models 25:32 - AI's Academic Impact: Pros & Cons 33:24 - LLM Chips and AI Accuracy 34:41 - Accountability, Writing, and Discovery - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #artificialintelligence #aiinscience #physics #machinelearning #futureofscience #aiandscience #scienceexplained #aiuniverse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices